It is time to talk about the Best of 2011. These are movies, music, and books that I listened to or read. 2011 was an interesting year on a global scale and a local one. From the capturing and killing of Osama Ben Laden to major sports scandals at Penn State and Syracuse to local scandals happening with Tat Gate at Ohio State where Jim Tressel resigned and the hiring of football legend Urban Meyer to be the next OSU football coach.
Anyway here are my top lists:
Best Music
1. Matt Redman – 10,000 Reasons – Best Worship album of 2011 – Passionate , awesome, music with great corporate worship songs like 10,000 reason (to bless the Lord), the intimate Endless Hallelujah, and Never Once.
2. Hillsong Live - God is Able – God is able is one of my favorite worship songs of the year. It’s all about being an overcomer.
3. Worship Central’s Spirit Break Out – Great catchy songs from some of the UK’s worship leaders including Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon, and Nikki Fletcher.
4. Red’s – Faceless – Overplayed on Radiou, but very hard driving song, and one of my favorites of the year.
5. Icon for Hire – Icon for Hire is my favorite breakout band for 2011. Great punk attitude, catchy hooks and choruses with driving rock. Below is their video for their song “Make a Move”
6. Disciple’s Horseshoes and Handgrenades – Even though this album came out in 2010, their songs stayed in the top rock countdown’s throughout 2011. Hits included “Invisible, Remedy and Dear X”
7. Bethel Church in Redding California’s corporate worship. They are one of Vineyard USA’s worship artists including Jeremy Riddle, Ben Johnson and others. Here is there song “One Thing Remains”
8. Also from Bethel Community Church – Jeremy Riddle’s Furious album. Below is the song “Furious”
9. My favorite hardcore album is August Burn’s Red and their new album Leveler which was released last summer. Below is a video of their song “Empire”
10. Speaking of empire’s, I am Empire’s album “Kings” also had loads of catchy songs such as “Hammers and Anvils, and Saints and Sinners. Below is their song “Hammers and Anvils”:
11. For old school metal, Theocracy’s As the World Bleeds is over the top. Many rockzines, webzines have given them high praise for their latest release.
Books
1. Francis Chan’s “Erasing Hell, What God says about Eternity and What We Made Up. A pretty good rebuttle to Rob Bell’s “Love Wins”.
2. Timothy Keller’s “Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God”. Many leading pastors throughout the USA are writing on marriage since marriage as an institution is being eroded in our culture. For me it was very convicting because he writes a lot about what it means to live sacrificially.
3. Terry Wardle’s “Untamed Christian, Unleashed Church: The Extravagance of the Holy Spirit in Life and Ministry”. Even though this book came out in 2010, I read it this year, and very insightful on the personhood of the Holy Spirit and his role in a Christian’s life and ministry.
